You Make Me a Believer
by hotchgirl18
Summary: Set after 14x01. When Mary Meadows escapes prison, the BAU face off with the Believers once again only to realize that this cult goes far deeper than anyone could ever imagine. With two agents in danger again, the BAU comes to terms with a shocking revelation and a ghost from the past.
1. Chapter 1

Unit Chief Emily Prentiss was finishing up another round of late night paperwork. All of a sudden, David Rossi burst in slamming the door—and giving the Unit Chief quite a fright. He didn't let Emily get a word in before he said, "There's been a prison break near Quantico. Five inmates have escaped, and one of them happens to be Mary Meadows."

"Are you kidding me?" Emily asked, exasperated.

Just then, Garcia burst in the door.

"There's been a murder of a prison guard—Steven Schwartz. And guess what? He had his hyoid bone removed. Sound familiar?" she asked in a curt tone.

"Okay, where's Spencer?" Emily demanded/

Just then, Spencer put his stuff on his desk and headed to Emily's office.

"Just got a note that said, "the Believers are bigger than you'll ever know," Spencer said, "I got it in my mailbox. I did a quick handwriting analysis. Turns out, the note is NOT written by Meadows."

"Then who?" Emily asked.

"That's the thing—I don't know!"

"Ok, then there must be another leader than we never profiled," Emily put her head down and sighed.

"I'll call Luke, Matt, and JJ," Rossi offered, "we need all hands on deck."

Prentiss called out for Anderson.

"Anderson, I need you to set up a protective detail for Agents Spencer Reid and Penelope Garcia."

Emily guided Garcia and Spencer to the FBI's saferoom—the one she stayed in when the hitmen group were after her.

"Garcia, you and Spencer will stay and work from in here. The rest of us will make finding Mary Meadows and the Believers our top priority. We will not rest until we do."

Garcia put her head on Spencer's shoulder and whimpered, "It's never going to be over, is it?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Three of the five prisoners have been caught," JJ informed Emily.

"Are any of them connected to the Believers?"

"Two of them are—Ophelia James and Levi Jackson. They used to be a part of Cyrus's cult."

"The third captured—LaTosha Matthews is a small- time drug dealer. I guess she just tagged along for the ride," Rossi added.

"Okay, Matt, Luke, talk to LaTosha. I have a feeling we'll have an easier time getting her to talk. Where are we on Meadows and her partner?" Emily ordered.

"See, this is where it gets weird," Rossi warned.

"It turns out that she escaped with Melissa Miller."

"You mean that crazy conspiracy theorist from last year?!" Tara asked.

"That's the one," Rossi answered.

Garcia burst into the round table.

"Okay, I did some more digging on our favorite conspiracy theorist. Turns out, she got heavily involved in drugs and alcohol and joined a Christian extremist cult."

"Let me guess," Emily said, "She met up with Benjamin Merva."

"Good gravy! Is EVERY unsub we captured involved in this cult?" Rossi wondered.

"It sure looks like it," Spencer added.

"But we still don't know who is helping the Believers," Tara stated, "it's gotta be someone from outside."

"Luke, Matt. Go talk to LaTosha right now," Emily ordered, "Spencer and Garcia, go through databases of known terrorists and cults. Look for Christian extremism, doomsday preppers, anything. Garcia, while you're at it, I want a deep dive into Merva and Meadow's past. Look for friends, relatives, anyone who could be helping them. JJ and Dave, track down survivors of the Liberty Ranch explosion. We can't rule them out too."

"I'll talk to the Director too," Dave offered, "he might have some ideas on how to stop this."

"You're right," Spencer put in, "we should also look at anyone who may have it in for the team."

"That's true. Okay everybody. Let's get to work."

"I don't know nothin' about nothin," LaTosha smarted off.

"Ah see, but you just added ten more years to your prison sentence for escaping," Luke taunted back.

"But tell you what," added Matt, "you tell us everything you know and we'll put in a good word for the judge."

"I ain't no Believer or any of that shit!" LaTosha protested.

"But you went along for the ride," Luke pointed out.

"Yeah, so? I went along with Meadows and all them other bitches. I don't DO prison. Besides, Meadows made me an offer I couldn't refuse. She said she'd give me crack and all that shit once we got on the outside and I accepted."

The agents looked at each other. Meadows and drugs? It wasn't likely though. Meadows just said that to convince her to escape prison.

"How was she gonna get the drugs?" Matt asked.

"Meadows and those Believer bitches said that they knew someone with a lot of money and she could buy the drugs for me."

"I see," Luke observed as he was writing everything down "do you know who she was talking about?"

"No," LaTosha retorted, "and I don't give a rat's ass. I do know this, though. The only reason we were able to bust out of there was because of her."

"Her?"

"The bitch financing Meadows and her gang. Actually, she's now the leader of the gang. She was really second in command to that Merva old fart. She works with that gang and everything."

"Her name, LaTosha? Do you know her name?" Luke coaxed.

"They never told me nothin.' I can tell you this. Why don't you pigs figure it out for yourself? They said you'll never figure it out in time."


	3. Chapter 3

"Christian extremism, believers, end of the world crap," Garcia murmured as she was searching her computer. Spencer entered the saferoom with two cups of coffee.

"Any luck?" Spencer asked.

"I'm hitting dead end after dead end," Garcia sighed, exasperated, "maybe it's because I'm scared for my life, but I can't find anyone who would be helping Mary Meadows and Melissa Miller. I searched databases for strange religious cult stuff, but everyone's either dead or in jail. Now, I'm no profiler but the ones I have tracked down, seem more like kids trying to be "edgy" or have these beliefs just to piss people off."

Spencer gripped her shoulders firmly.

"Hey, hey. This isn't your fault. We will find Meadows and defeat the Believers. We will find the second leader of this cult and bring that person to justice too. Now, drink up. Coffee's getting cold."

The team met in the round table room to discuss recent findings.

"I visited with LaTosha," Luke started, "she talked tough and all, but she gave us some disturbing information."

Emily raised her eyebrows.

"She said that another woman was the other leader of the cult and she was funding them too. She funded their escape."

"Did she say who this woman was?" Emily asked.

"She refused to give us a name," supplied Matt, "but she told us we had to figure it out for ourselves. And this mystery woman said we won't figure it out in time."

"In time for what?"

"Your guess is as good as mine Boss," answered Luke.

"Well, she'd have to be pretty well-off financially to fund a cult as large as the Believers. And we know she must've been there ten years ago. Maybe she was another one of Cyrus's wives," JJ thought out loud.

"Guys, what if this is the mole?" Reid wondered.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Think about it. Mary Meadows was somehow able to get into the FBI despite being in Witness Protection. Do you think that is a coincidence? Especially coming off the one-year anniversary of my imprisonment?"

"I'm not following," Tara admitted.

"We've always suspected there's been a mole in the FBI. It was how Wilkins, Vaughan, and Adams got information on me. In fact, Cat Adams knew everything about Maeve."

"Right," continued JJ, "and we've been so tied up with other cases that we haven't had a chance to figure out who the mole was."

"Guys what if the mole is really a Believer?"

"And she's trying to take revenge on the BAU by A—continuing to keep an innocent man in prison and B—kidnap two federal agents in retribution for the original cult leader's death," Matt deduced.

"She wants to destroy the FBI," Rossi noted.

"So what we have is a wealthy federal agent who helped FIVE prisoners escaped and orchestrated everything that has happened to us in the last year," Prentiss said. The stakes just grew much higher.

"I'll text John and tell him to get over here. This isn't something we can do alone."

A message flashed on JJ's cell phone.

"Guys, LaTosha Matthews is dead."


	4. Chapter 4

"Poison," Spencer noted as he examined LaTosha Matthew's body.

"Do we have any idea where it came from?" Luke asked as they were combing through the prison cell.

"Guard said someone dropped off a taunting letter. The one where they said we would never figure it out in time. We should get this letter tested."

The medical examiner said to Spencer, "The letter was laced with cyanide."

"Cyanide is a fast- acting poison," Spencer added.

"Yeah, she never had a chance," the examiner said, "my guess is she knew too much about something. Did you catch the two ladies who escaped prison?"

"We're working on that."

Just then, Luke burst in.

"Handwriting analysis came back. The writing matched Melissa Miller's handwriting. "

"So our star witness is dead and Meadows is still on the loose. On top of that, she may be working with one of my agents?!" the Director, John Carrol asked.

"That's right," Rossi confirmed.

"We just got back from the medical examiner's office," Luke said, "handwriting came back to Melissa Miller the DNA sample came back to her too."

Emily rolled her eyes. Was this ever going to end?

"But that still doesn't bring us any closer to finding Meadows and figuring out who's behind this," Emily remarked.

"We do know that our unsub is a highly trained federal agent and she was able to sneak into the prison without anyone noticing," Spencer said.

"Or they did recognize her, but they thought she was one of the good guys," pointed out JJ.

The team looked to Director Carroll.

"Ok, Agent Garcia, you have my full permission to go through every single agent's personal file, database."

"Also I need everything involving Scratch, Cat Adams, Lindsey Vaughan, everything from last year basically," Spencer commanded, "look for anyone who was cc'd on any emails or communications. "

"Garcia, where are we on relatives and friends of Benjamin Merva?" Emily asked.

"Ma'am, that's taking a while because of all this WitSec bullshit," Garcia answered, dejectedly.

"Well, work quickly. We don't have that kind of time," Emily answered, "everyone we know our assignments. Let's get busy."

While the rest of the team embarked on their various assignments, Rossi walked with his old friend Carroll.

"This is just like old times, Dave," Carroll remarked, "just like when we were in high school and we skipped class to smoke cigars. I have a slight feeling there's more to it, though. Am I right?"

Rossi grimaced.

"You're right, John. As we've stated, we think whoever is helping Meadows is influential in the FBI. You may have worked with her."

"You think I know the unsub?" Carroll asked flabbergasted.

"Did anyone ever give you a hard time? Did you ever get threatening messages or letters?"

"Dave, you know what being the Director's like. I have people who don't like me."

"Did anyone have an unusual fascination with the Liberty Ranch hostage crisis? End times prophecies? Did you know of anyone who was a little too obsessed with Benjamin Cyrus?"

"Well, yeah. There were a few agents who talked about that case. One of them was Mary Meadows. She was odd, but I never dreamed she was-" Carrol began to hyperventilate.

"Calm down John," Rossi soothed, "it's not your fault she got past you."

"No, Dave! She got past me because I NEVER signed off on her transfer to the FBI! I didn't approve her!"

"Who did?" Rossi coaxed.

Carrol began to shake his head back and forth.

"Oh my God…." he whispered, "it was her. It was always her this whole time."

"Who?!"


	5. Chapter 5

Rossi had to haul Director Carrol into the round table room. The shock completely overwhelmed him.

"What's going on?" Emily asked.

"He's in shock," Rossi explained, "he knows who the unsub is, but he's so traumatized, he can't even speak."

"Okay, I've got Reid and Garcia going over the FBI databases, Meadow's acceptance into the FBI, and money trails," Emily explained.

As if on cue, Garcia gasped and Spencer ran to the team in excitement.

"We combed through everything about Mary Meadow's time at the FBI," Spencer started, "we looked at the signature of the person authorizing Meadows. When Garcia zoomed in closer, she recognized the name as-"

"Linda Barnes," Garcia interrupted, in shock.

"Barnes?" Emily asked, disbelievingly.

"It was always her," Director Carroll stuttered, "she must've approved Meadows and snuck it under my paperwork. I didn't know she was bad. She was ambitious as hell and a pain, but I didn't know she was a-"

"John calm down," Rossi ordered, "it's not your fault. She's just a sneaky son of a—"

"Oh my God!" Garcia gasped.

"What is it?" Emily asked.

"I did some digging into Benjamin Merva's past, like you ordered Boss Lady. Turns out, he was quite the troublemaker in his high school days. Slept with a lot of women, that sort of thing. Well, he had a daughter with one of his side chicks. The daughter was put up for adoption. She became filthy rich. That daughter, desperate to know her birth father met up with Merva and joined the Sepatarian Sect. When the explosion happened, she sent him money to start his Believers cult. She's been sending him a lot of money left and right."

"What does this daughter have to do with anything, Garcia?" Rossi asked.

"The daughter's name is Linda James Merva. She entered witness protection like many Liberty Range survivors and became-Linda Barnes."

The team stood there stunned.

"That would explain why she was able to pass FBI background checks like Meadows," Matt summarized.

"And would also explain why she approved of Meadows," Luke added.

"She and Meadows were in on a plot from the beginning to destroy the FBI from within. They wanted to bring down their enemies," Tara figured out.

"And it was a very elaborate plot at that," Garcia added, "I went through everything Barnes was cc'd on and she fed information about Boy Wonder to Cat Adams, thus causing the incident in Mexico. That was phase one of Operation: Take Down the BAU."

"Phase two was to dismantle the team," Spencer added, "that would explain why she separated us."

"And she would've succeeded had Spencer not told me about it," Carroll lamented.

"She wanted to make sure we didn't catch on to any of those 299 murders," Emily added, "Director, what happened after you fired Barnes?"

"She had to answer before a Senate Committee and Internal Affairs got involved."

"We testified at the hearing," JJ answered.

"Garcia," Emily commanded, "you know what to do."

"Ok, so I pulled up logs from the hearing. Now, Spencer and JJ testified separately. But JJ explained the Justin Franco case and Spencer talked about how she was trying to barge in and take over the investigation."

"Yeah, and when I presented other cases to her, she was echoing very racist sentiments and how God chooses certain people to die," JJ confirmed.

"That's in line with the religious fanaticism," Emily stated.

"Where is Linda Barnes now?" Director Carroll asked.

"Going through her credit card information right now. After she was terminated from the FBI, she made significant withdrawals."

"She funded the prison break," Rossi said.

"She's a narcissistic psychopath," Emily profiled, "this is payback for killing Benjamin Cyrus AND Benjamin Merva. She will corner her way out—and with Meadows and Miller by her side, she has a multitude of resources at her disposal. We do not rest until we find her."

"I need a drink," Carroll said.

"John," Spencer scolded, "there's no way you could've known. She's a sneaky bitch. You've told me time and time again to quit blaming myself in our meetings. Well, I'm just returning the favor."

"It's not often that a subordinate smack down his supervisor," Carroll joked, "but I'm glad you did. Your team will catch then."

"Come on," Rossi said, "let's go back to the saferoom and figure this out over a magartia."

As they were walking to the room, the trio was blindsided by an ambush. Rossi was knocked down to the ground. Spencer and the Director soon followed. Miller dragged Rossi while Meadows grabbed Spencer.

"Glad you could join us, boys," Barnes sneered.


End file.
